Device for propulsion in a fluid medium



P. SCHLUMBOHM 2,855,053

DEVICE FOR PROPULSION IN A FLUID MEDIUM Oct. 7, 1958 Filed May 4, 1955 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent DEVICE FOR PROPULSION IN A FLUID MEDIUM Peter Schlumbohm, New York, N. Y.

Application May 4, 1955, Serial No. 506,047

1 Claim. (Cl. 170-135) The present invention relates to propulsion means and a gear to allow Forward, Neutral and Reverse action of those propulsion means. The invention uses air-foil or hydro-foil structures.

By fluid propulsion means, the fluid is directed against the air-foil structures. When using air-foil structures, I especially apply fluid propulsion means of my own invention, such as the friction pump described in my U. S. Patent 2,706,016, and the centrifugal fan described in my U. S. Patent 2,655,310.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. In these drawings my friction pump (U. S. Patent 2,706,016) is used as example for the fluid propelling means. This friction pump has specific value for the application in this invention because it has very little mass and allows to produce air currents of very high speed with the special characteristic that the produced air current leaves the 360 nozzle of the friction pump in a sharply defined, bladelike, laminary flow. This is important to control the flow of the centrifuged fluid over the air-foil means.

Fig. 1 shows an impeller in its three alternative operative positions, of which two are indicated in dotted lines, and in relation to two flow deflectors, which themselves are drawn in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 shows the friction pump I mounted on a shaft 2. The shaft is held in two bearings 3, 4 which are mounted on beams 6, 7 on a base 8. The shaft 2 has a keyway 14 (as shown in cross section in Fig. 2), and a sleeve at the arbor of the pump 1 allows to displace the pump 1 along this keyway on the shaft 2 by operating the lever 11. The purpose of displacing said pump axially of said shaft is to bring the pump into positions in registry with deflecting elements. In Fig. 1 two deflector elements 9, are shown. They are supported by the base 8 and are arranged along the shaft 2 in axially spaced concentric relation, one of said elements being arranged to deflect a centrifugally induced airstream toward one end of said shaft, the other deflector element being arranged to deflect a centrifugally induced airstream toward the other end of said shaft.

In the example illustrated in Fig. 1, the deflector elements 9, 10 are. air-foil structures, shaped like two doughnuts, with straight sides 12, 13, facing each other, and with the impeller pump 1 operating alternatively in the center hole of element 9 or element 10, or in a central position between said two elements to produce zero thrust.

In this arrangement the air leaves the 360 peripheral nozzle of the pump 1 and, when in registry with the one or the other deflector element, hits the wall of the airfoil deflector element to be split into two streams of air, one flowing over the curved surface and the other one over the straight surface of the air-foil element and thus creating the well known pressure-difference between the pressures of the air on the two sides.

If the impeller 1 is running in registry with deflector element 9, air pressure against the flat side 12 will produce a thrust along shaft 2. If the base 2 is mobile for instance on skids, this registry would correspond to the Forward gear shift, as indicated by the letter F.

If the impeller 1 is running in registry with deflector element 10, air pressure against the flat side 13 will produce a thrust along shaft 2 in opposite direction. This registry would correspond to the Reverse gear shift, as indicated by the letter R.

Moving the impeller 1 by means of lever 11 from either registry cited into the central position produces zero thrust, and this position constitutes the Neutral gear shift, as indicated by the letter N.

While the effect utilized in the apparatus of Fig. 1 has been applied in airplane design for a lifting wing, its application appears to be new for a pulling wing. It also appears to be new in general to provide alternative opposite directional effects. In airplane design this problem, of course, did not exist as there is only the problem of lifting, not the problem of falling. Thus this gear design will find its best application in mobile structures which require Forward, Neutral and Reverse action of the propelling means.

Having now described the nature of my invention and given examples of the manner in which it may be performed,

I claim as my invention:

Apparatus for horizontal propulsion comprising a shaft, a pair of deflector elements arranged along said shaft in axially spaced concentric relation, one of said elements being arranged to deflect a centrifugally induced airstream toward one end of said shaft, the other of said elements being arranged to deflect a centrifugally induced airstream toward the other end of said shaft, a centrifugal impeller mounted on said shaft, and means for displacing said impeller axially of said shaft between positions in registry with the respective elements, whereby said impeller may be moved to a central position to produce zero thrust or to a position in registry with either of said elements to produce a thrust along said shaft in either direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 864,672 McCormick Aug. 27, 1907 1,911,041 Smyser May 23, 1933 1,921,043 Roth Aug. 8, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 421,433 France Dec. 22, 1910 526,521 France July 2, 1921 

